Remember Who You Wanted To Be!

 “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.”  — Buckminster Fuller

“Remember who you wanted to be” was a bumper sticker I saw recently on my morning walk around the lake — very profound in its simplicity.  Most of us had dreams when we were children, dreams of what we wanted to be, do and contribute.

Yet very few of us grew up living our dreams.  All too often they were killed by careless comments by our parents, teachers and other authority figures.

But if we all lived by the Original Instructions, there would be no more dream killing.  Only support and encouragement.

As a child, all I ever wanted to do was be a singer and actress when I grew up.  All during my childhood I wrote and directed shows [for me to star in, of course] and convinced all the neighborhood kids to perform in them.  “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show!”

At the age of ten, I summoned up my courage and asked a teacher when I could start my career.

“What career?”

“My career in show business.”

“You have as much chance of success in show business as a snowball in hell.”

That one comment ended my dream. I know my teacher was only doing what she believed would protect me from a hard career and disappointment. It’s just that she was wrong.

Years later, in my senior year of high school, I was cast as the lead in my school musical and I was so good, people were talking about it years later.  In fact, I won the role over a classmate who is now a very well-known actress.

After my successful three performances, my family and teachers understood that I really had the talent to be an actress and singer, but, for me, it was too late.  The dream had died and I didn’t have the confidence to go out into the world and give it a try.

Of course, as fate would have it, I got close to that dream by writing and lecturing in front of large groups [and often opening with a song].  But it took me a long time to summon the courage to do that.

If I had listened to all the people who told me I couldn’t write, The Wind Is My Mother may never have happened.

I once went to an excellent career counselor who told me that what we wanted to be in early childhood is most likely what we are truly meant to do as adults.  We just let others discourage us from using our full human potential.

Don’t let yourself be derailed by others’ judgments, and please don’t do it to anyone else.  If you follow the Original Instructions, you will instead foster dreams and talents.

“When a child has a dream and a parent says, “It’s not financially feasible; you can’t make a living at that; don’t do it,” we say to the child, run away from home… You must follow your dream. You will never be joyful if you don’t. Your dream may change, but you’ve got to stay after your dreams. You have to.”   Abraham, Excerpted from a workshop in Asheville, NC on Sunday, May 1st, 2005

Is there a dream you’ve given up on?  What are three things you can do within the month to start to recapture it?